Glibertarians.com 2017 Archive

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  • Spiderman: Homecoming Review/Rant

    Alright, so I just saw the new Spiderman the other day. I’m mixed on my thoughts. On one hand, I want to praise it for giving us the first decently done villain since Loki all the way back in the original Thor. We get some quick backstory on him at the start and it gives him a decent reason why he turns into a criminal. It was also nice to not get yet another origin story on Peter Parker. He was already bitten by a spider, and there was no sign of any Uncle Ben, so presumably he’s already dead. It was also nice to see that Peter has his own lame homemade Spiderman costume and only can get the nice fancy suit from the resources available through Tony Stark, rather than somehow being able to make such a nice fancy suit himself like the previous Spiderman movies. Also liked that he had to create the webbing himself, rather than it being a power given by the spider. Never was a comic book reader, but I know that’s how it was in the Spiderman cartoon which is what I grew up with, so that’s how it’s supposed to be as far as I’m concerned.

    So, now to the stuff I didn’t like. I think they made him too young. I really think Marvel would’ve been better served having Peter be at the end of High School, beginning of College, like the Sam Raimi Spiderman did. There was a little too much focus on teenage angst and relationships with his fellow students for my taste. I also think Tony Stark should’ve taken the fancy Spiderman suit back sooner, so we would have to see the home made suit for more of the movie. Especially since Tony gives him back the fancy suit at the end of the movie, so this will likely be the only movie with him using his own suit.

    Alright, to the real issue that bothered me. Really, Marvel? Please don’t tell me you’re going to start pushing your SJW crap into your movie universe. Do you really want to turn what’s been a cash cow for you into box office flops? So, what am I talking about? Well, there wasn’t a huge amount of the crap in the movie, fortunately, but there were a few standout issues. All of it that I can recall came from one particular character; Michelle. It starts with the scene when Peter’s group is gathering for a trip to Washington D.C. Michelle makes a comment about wanting to protest. Alright, just a one off, vague comment about protesting, but not what she wants to protest. Okay, fine. A bit later, we get to the group visiting the Washington Monument. Their group leader mentions not wanting to split the group and Michelle says how she doesn’t want to enter a structure built by slaves. Really? There were a couple other instances of social signaling by this specific character in other points of the movie too, if I recall correctly. Oh, and guess what we find out about the girl at the end of the movie? This is MJ. Yup, Parker’s future love interest is no longer a pale redhead like she always has been. Nope, now she’s a mixed race social signaling SJW.

    So, I really wanted to love this movie. Growing up I regularly watched the Spiderman cartoon, it was one of my favorites. So I was kinda disappointed with this. It wasn’t bad, but it was slightly above average, really only because of an actual interesting villain. But I really hope this isn’t the start of Marvel trying to replicate the crap they’ve been doing in their comic books in recent years into their movie series. I’m interested in the upcoming Black Panther film, and, surprisingly, I’m interested in the new Thor. (I was surprised by that, given how rather boring I found Thor 1 & 2 to be). Hopefully this will be a one off deal, and not the start of a trend.

  • I Can’t Believe I’m Up This Early Sunday Links

    We got back home from a concert at the wee hours; I’ll just say that Howard Levy is beyond amazing. But links hath murdered sleep, so here you are.

    Verizon throws out the first pitch in Throttle Season. I think they must have been doing this while I was putting this post together because our ‘Net is running so slowly. Or maybe it’s the tentacle porn videos that webdominatrix is downloading. I keep telling her, stop talking to Heroic Mulatto, but like all children, she stubbornly refuses to listen to mom and dad.

    The first of a new series of massively expensive military toys was rolled out. Do you know what would have been great? If it had been launched by Chevy Chase, and then fallen over.

    In local Chicagoland news, this was embarrassing. Swiss Servator hardest hit.

    Look, I’m as glad as anyone that McCain is about to be involuntarily term-limited, but Jesus Fucking H Presentable Christ, try to be a little more classy.

    And finally, I love living in a world that has things like this in it.

  • ZARDOZ SATURDAY NIGHT LINKS

    ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. AFTER RETIRING FROM FIGURE 8 RACING, ZARDOZ FEELS NEED TO DO SOMETHING WITH SPARE TIME. DELIVERING GRAIN IS GOOD, BUT ZARDOZ FEELS A DEBT TO NEW HOME OF IOWA. MAYBE ZARDOZ COULD TRY …

    WITH FLOODS ACROSS CENTER OF MANY BRUTAL LIVING AREAS, ZARDOZ COULD HELP. ZARDOZ WILL GO TO NEAREST RECRUITING STATION ON MONDAY. IN THE MEANTIME, HE GIVES HIS CHOSEN ONES LINKS;

  • First Shots Fired in the Tax Wars

    Now that Team Red has demonstrated their utter hackery by suddenly changing their minds about dismantling the government-controlled health insurance system and demonstrating their deep and abiding love for expansive government, the next ripe target is so-called “tax reform.” Team Blue is already manning the ramparts in the certain fear that any adjustments in the tax code will be away from their moneybags and toward the Team Red moneybags (we know for certain that actually cutting taxes and pushing all the moneybags away from the trough is as likely as the sudden heat death of the Universe).

    So it was with that thought in mind that I approached a Vox article written by the reliably mendacious Matt Yglesias as a general hit-piece on Trump. The article doesn’t disappoint, it was the expected (and at this point yawn-inducing) brew. The section on taxes drew my attention: as expected, the well-past-damn-lies use of statistics, cherry-picked quotes, emotional appeals, and the Diana Moon Glampers view of the purpose of economic manipulation.

    Back on the policy front, Trump says of his tax plan that “if you add what the people are going to save in the middle income brackets, if you add that to what they’re saving with health care, this is like a windfall for the country, for the people.”

    Trump’s actual tax plan would raise taxes on millions of Americans while delivering a windfall to the rich…

    According to the Tax Policy Center, the average American family would see its after-tax income rise by about $760, while families in the top 1 percent of the income distribution would see their incomes rise by about $175,000 — more than triple the total household income of the median American. Trump’s plan also features a big corporate tax cut.

     

    Now, being the sort of suspicious and cynical guy that I am, and admittedly not a news junkie, I wondered if the part about “would raise taxes on millions of Americans” was complete bullshit, the usual dishonest conflation of “tax rates” with “taxes,” or even “millions of Americans” being people in the dreaded 1%. So I followed the links to the source, the Tax Policy Center, which according to Wikipedia is “non-partisan.” From the article:

    Without those revenue-raisers, nearly all US households would get a tax reduction, averaging about $4,400. The tax cuts would be highly regressive, with high income households getting much more than those with low- or middle-incomes. However, if a half-dozen tax hikes are included in a revenue package, the average tax cut would shrink to about $2,300 and about one-in-five households would pay more tax than under current law.

    OK, this was the expected mendaciousness- the tax cuts are significant, and surprise surprise! the folks who pay more taxes get proportionately more reduction (i.e., the rate would be the same or smaller, but applied against a larger number). I guess that’s what they mean by “regressive.”

    It was the very next several paragraphs which floored me:

    TPC could not model an actual Trump tax plan since far too many critical details are unknown. For instance, the Administration has been sending mixed signals about whether it wants a tax bill to raise as much revenue as current law or whether it prefers a version that reduces overall taxes and add to the deficit.

    Beyond those threshold questions, the White House outline left out many critical details. For instance, during the campaign, candidate Trump said he’d increase the standard deduction but eliminate both the personal exemption and head of household filing status. The April outline repeated the promise to boost the standard deduction but was silent on the two revenue-raisers.

    In other words, “We have no idea of what the plan we’re criticizing actually is.” But it gets better:

    As a result, TPC created a stylized version of what the key elements of a Trump plan might look like. It first analyzed the tax cuts that the White House outlined in April, adding key assumptions to fill in unspecified details. For instance, TPC assigned income ranges to the proposed tax brackets, which the Administration did not.

    In other words, WE JUST MADE THIS SHIT UP OURSELVES. And THAT was what got cited, and Yglesias still had to apply the usual lying sack of shit spin and misquotation to it.

    Ladies and Gentlemen, Journalism Circa 2017.

  • Classic Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri

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    Classic Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri

    Serves 4 (YMMV)

    This is one of those drinks that when I make it, I say, “why don’t I make this more often?” So easy, so balanced. I freeze strawberries when they are in season, but frozen berries from the store are fine.

    Many people prefer cocktails (and everything else) much sweeter than we do. Adjust the sugar as desired. Most recipes will call for 5-7 tbsp sugar. You can also use simple syrup, but I find it adds more liquid than I like.

    2-1/4 cups frozen unsweetened strawberries, straight from the freezer
    3/4 cup light rum
    1/2 cup lime juice (don’t worry, bottled works fine)
    4 tbsp white sugar – adjust to taste

    Put all ingredients in the blender and puree until smooth. The final consistency should be slushy enough to drink through a straw without waiting, but not runny.

    Happy summer!

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  • Saturday Morning Post, No Rockwell: Links

    Back in the day, there was a weird cult called est. You youngsters wouldn’t believe how big a deal it was, given its total (and deserved) obscurity today. In any case, the audience was locked in a room with a trainer for a weekend, with notoriously long stretches between pee breaks. The first thing the trainer would say was, “You’re all assholes!” That was the last true thing the audiences would hear all weekend. And so it is here, as I present links to fake news to you, my beloved assholes.

    As much as I hate Trump for appointing a jackbooted authoritarian like Sessions to the top law enforcement post, I have to admit that some of his other appointees are pretty impressive. Still not enough for me to ever forgive him, change my low opinion of him, or give him my vote in the next election, but we do have to admit to small rays of light.

    How could anyone object to Amazon acquiring Whole Foods and making it better, stronger, and helping make good food more accessible? Oh yes, I forgot. Democrats. Now, why could they possible object beyond the cheap schadenfreude of fucking up business deals? Oh yes, I forgot. Big money contributors.

    [The Democratic congresschimp] letter was made public by the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW), which represents many of the unionized grocery workers in the United States.
    “Political concerns about Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods are growing for good reason,” UFCW President Marc Perrone said on Friday. “Amazon’s monopolistic desire to control the retail market and replace good jobs with automation is not only a direct threat to the hard-working men and women at Whole Foods, it’s also a direct threat to our economy and consumers.”

    Heaven forbid better prices and service to consumers.

    In other news, this is warped.

    If Chipotle were authentic, this would be in the food, not on it.

    Apparently, I’m the wrong kind of doctor. If I had spent my years as a grad student and post-doc pursuing medicine instead, I could have been this guy.

    No sports news because football season hasn’t started yet and the Orioles have returned to their sucky ways.

    And I leave you all with music from my youth. Difficult, complex, and brilliant music.

  • ZARDOZ FRIDAY NIGHT LINKS

    ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. IT APPEARS THAT ZARDOZ WON HIS CASE ON APPEAL AT THE WEBSTER COUNTY RACING BOARD. WHEN ZARDOZ SHOWED UP TO GIVE TESTIMONY, THE BRUTALS ON THE BOARD ALL RAN OUT DOORS, JUMPED OUT WINDOWS AND OTHERWISE FLED IN AWE AND TERROR OF ZARDOZ.

    Run Away! Run Away!

    HOWEVER, ALL OTHER BRUTAL DRIVERS HAVE ANNOUNCED THEY WILL NO LONGER RACE FIGURE 8 WHEN ZARDOZ DOES. THUS, ZARDOZ WILL RETIRE UNDEFEATED. ZARDOZ DOES NOT WISH TO TAKE AWAY ENTERTAINMENT FROM BRUTAL CO-WORKERS AT LOCAL GRAIN CO-OP.

    ZARDOZ DOES NOT WANT HIS CHOSEN ONES TO NOT BE ENTERTAINED AS WELL, SO HE BRINGS YOU THE GIFT OF THE LINK:

    • GAIA IS ANGRY AT ….SOMEBODY IN ASIA MINOR.
    • ZARDOZ BELIEVES FRIEND STEVE SMITH GIVE BETTER ADVICE THAN MAGAZINE.
    • IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO APOLOGIZE.
    • APPEARS THAT BRUTAL POLITICIANS FIND ETHICS FORMS…DIFFICULT.

  • Firearms Friday: Cheap Carbines and other Frugal Firearms

    Another week, another gun article. I’m actually impressed I have been able to keep this going for this long. I figured my ADHD and laziness would have teamed up to stop me from writing these weeks ago, yet here I am. Lucky you. This week’s topic was inspired by a brief conversation I had on our discord server. If you haven’t heard, we have a little chat room setup where you can talk to other weirdos glibs live. Here is the link if you’re interested. Anyway, a few days ago someone said to me that they would be into shooting except it is too expensive. This took me aback, because while it’s true that this sport is not exactly free, there has never been a better time to get into shooting on a budget than right now. You see, just like most of us, gun dealers and manufacturers were also expecting a Hillary coronation. As a result, dealers were buying up as much free stock as possible and manufacturers went into overdrive cranking out inventory in anticipation of the post election panic buying. When Sir Donald the Orange had his little bloodless coup it threw everyone on the gun side for a loop. Instead of surging demand and sky high prices, gun sales leveled off. This means there is a massive overstock and companies are slashing prices and offering big rebates just to move product. I have been serious into shooting for almost a decade and I can tell you I have NEVER seen gun prices this insanely low before. It really is a buyers market, IF you know where to look.

    See, something I have learned about gun dealers is that in many ways they are somewhat worse than used car salesmen. When you go buy a specific brand of anything… shoes, cars, clothing, food, etc., the price is, for the most part, set. You might find one store that has it for 10, maybe 20% less, and on a blue moon you can find some really killer deals, but in general the price is stable. When it comes to guns, however, there is no such stability. I have literally found the exact same gun, in the same color, at two different stands in the same gun show with a $200, $300, even $400 price difference. Whats worse is that, unlike with most other products, the big brand name stores usually rip you off worse than the smaller mom and pop outfits. The reason I believe this happens is because much of the gun buying public is ignorant of the actual market value of the guns they purchase, which allow dealers to wallow in the profit margins. The other driving force behind this is the mistaken belief many people have that you cannot buy guns online. You absolutely can buy a gun online, you just can’t have it shipped directly to you. You must first find a registered dealer willing to accept online transfers. Most of them charge a fee for this. The fees range wildly from shop to shop and region to region. My current FFL of choice charges $20, but I have seen them as low at $10 and as high as $100+. Once you find a willing shop, you must purchase the gun online and have your shop send the seller a copy of their FFL. Once that happens they will ship the gun to your dealer, who can then run the required background check before handing over to you. It’s usually a rather painless process and it saves a ton of money.

    So, how low are prices right now? What if I told you that you could have a reliable, modern handgun for $250? How about a working AR 15 for $400? Even a decent pump shotgun can be had for as little as $200. It’s all about where you look. There are 2 sites that I use to find good prices on guns. The first one is gun.deals,  formerly slickguns.com. This is where I go if I just want to browse and see what guns are out there and for what prices. This is a site that accepts user submissions for good deals on guns and then lets people vote and comment on the deal. I would say the majority of my gun purchases originate from gun.deals. It doesn’t just list guns, either. Ammo, mags, accessories… pretty much everything gun related is on this site. You can sort by caliber or seach by keyword as well. Now, if you know what gun you want and you simply want to find the best price on it, then I recommend gunwatcher. Gunwatcher lets you type in the name of the gun and it will search hundreds of websites to find the best price. Like trivago, but with fewer Brad Pitt look alike pitchmen.

    So, what are my personal recommendations for good cheap guns? I thought you’d never ask! This is by far not a comprehensive list, but it is a good place to start if you’re on a budget and want some firepower. For handguns, my recommendation hands down has to be the EAA SAR K2P 9mm. This is a Turkish made polymer CZ clone. It holds 17 rounds and takes standard CZ 75 magazines which are almost as ubiquitous as Glock mags. Right now you can get one for about $270 shipped, which means you should be able to get it out the door for under $300 at your local gun store. My recommendation for a good cheap rifle is a bit more complicated. AR 15s are at rock bottom prices now, but the problem is that a lot of no name companies are just slapping a bunch of parts kits together and throwing them out the door. I highly recommend checking gun.deals for the latest sales, but just skimming it right now I can see a few good ones pop up. If you absolutely have to have the cheapest thing you can get, here’s an ATI polymer lower with a keymod rail for $350. This has a polymer upper and lower which I am not a big fan of, but they get the job done and you really can’t complain about the price. The free float handguard is a nice touch too. If you want something all metal and brand name there is this Smith & Wesson M&P for $450, or this Bear Creek AR for $400, either of which would make an excellent first rifle. One of my personal favorites is this Radical Firearms AR with a free float rail for $450. I have used Radical ARs before and they are an excellent value. Finally, we come to shotguns. If you are simply looking for a good cheap gun for home defense, nothing beats a pump action 12 gauge. My personal pick is the Hawk 982. It is a Chinese copy of the venerable Remington 870 and it is actually better than the new 870s coming out of Remington right now. There are a lot of inexpensive shotguns out there so do your homework and see what you can find. That’s pretty much it. Sorry for the lack of pics this week. I’m actually writing this at my job so I gotta keep it low key.

  • Friday Afternoon Links

    Happy Friday, Its already beer-thirty here at Glibs HQ (Florida). I’m enjoying a Tampa Lager Cigar City, close enough I can drive to, far enough I don’t go very often because my wife bitches about the cost of the Uber ride home.

    To the people who get shitty with us

    When NPR and Google do it, GMO is the future! I’d love for all the mosquitoes to go sterile and die.

    I feel like Tom Friedman when I cheered a little about this.

    You know who else didn’t want migrants to breed?

    Florida Man fails at his Thelma & Louise impression.

     

     

    Too subtle for some

    A little bit of cheesiness to get your Friday afternoon kicked off. Fun fact, if you play it at double speed it sounds like an actual thrash-metal band.

     

  • The Hat and The Hair: Episode 53

     

    “Get out, Sean!” the hat screamed from under the desk. “Get out, get out, get out!”

    “We are going to let him resign,” the hair told him.

    “No, fire him. I want him fired. I want to do it. Have Donald whomp him over the head with me like The Skipper and Gilligan!”

    “Who?”

    “The Skipper? Gilligan? I was a TV show?”

    “Before my time, I guess.”

    “All of time was before your time, you infant wig!”

    “Can I pardon myself?” Donald asked.

    “I don’t think so, Donald,” the hair said.

    “You’ve really never seen Gilligan’s Island?” the hat asked.

    “Why not?” Donald asked.

    “Precedent. Ford had to pardon Nixon for Watergate,” the hair told him.

    “What’s Watergate?” Donald asked, shifting his bulk around in his Oval Office chair.

    “It’s a hotel, moron,” the hat said. Donald kicked him with a filthy bare foot.

    “Don’t kick me!” the hat wailed.

    “Kick him, Donald,” the hair urged, “Kick him hard!”

    “Stop encouraging him!” the hair yelled.

    “Can Jeff pardon me?” Donald asked.

    “Jeff is Attorney General, Donald,” the hair told him.

    “So? Can he pardon me?”

    “No, only the President can pardon someone?”

    “Who’s the President? Can I call him?”

    “You’re the President, Donald,” the hair said patiently.

    “Damn fucking right, I am!” he roared. “I pardon myself. Donald J. Trump, thou art pardoned!”

    “That’s not how it works, Donald!” the hat said. Donald was stepping on him now and his voice from under the desk was distorted and faint.

    “Russia doesn’t matter anymore! I’m pardoned, I’m pardoned!” Donald yelled, getting up to run in circles around his desk.

    He stopped after a few laps, breathing raggedly. “Russia is all fake news from now on,” he gasped. “Mueller is fired. Jeff is fired. I’m free!”

    Donald pulled open the Oval Office door and took off down the hallway toward the Residence, the hair flapping behind him, struggling to hang on.

    “I’m pardoned, I’m pardoned,” he told his secretaries taking selfies with their salads.

    “I’m pardoned, I’m pardoned,” he told Reince masturbating in his office to Holocaust autopsies.

    “I’m pardoned, I’m pardoned,” he told his Sarah as she was sitting on a chocolate cake and moaning.

    “I’m pardoned, I’m pardoned,” he told he told a scowling Melania as she gave her son his bath.

    “I’m pardoned, I’m pardoned,” he told Steve, the homeless drunk sleeping in his bed. “I’m pardoned, I’m pardoned,” as he tried to shake him awake. “I’m pardoned, I’m pardoned,” he screamed while stamping his foot.

    “Steve?”

    “Stevey?”

    “Wake up, Steve. I need to tell you something.”

    “Steve?”

    “Donald,” the hair whispered. “You might need to call for someone.”

    “Nonsense. Steve is just playing a joke.” He poked the homeless man in the neck. “C’mon, Steve, joke’s over. You need to wake up.”

    “Donald,” the hair said, “I think he’s dead.”

    A toilet flushed and Steve came out of the bathroom, wiped his hands off on his shirt. “Who’s dead?”

    “Steve!” Donald said and hugged him. “You’re OK. I told you he was OK!”

    “Then who is in the bed?” the hair asked quietly.

    “Who is in the bed?” Donald asked.

    “A man can’t have someone over for the night?” Steve asked.

    “But who is it?” Donald asked. He went to poke the man in the bed again and jammed his finger into the body’s eye.

    “No one,” Steve said walking back into the bathroom. “Have it cleaned up,” he told Donald.